TESSERACT, 2022, Almond, NY
Tesseract was created as a gift to the regional burn community at Portalburn in Almond, NY. The piece was originally going to be a hanging metal cube, created from a recycled wire shelving unit, inside of which participants could stick their head as a photo opportunity. After finding a reliable source of recycled and refurbishable acrylic sheets from a former architectural student, the metal cube was then housed inside of an infinity mirror object that was entirely cut by hand.
The piece was mounted on two stools, providing a challenge for participants to get underneath and up inside of it.
As the dew point dropped around midnight each evening, humidity provided an added layer of confusion and ambience.
Construction took a month, and consisted largely of weaving LEDs into the recycled wire shelving. A significant portion of time was devoted to finding angles and measurements for the mirrors that would create chaotic reflections on the inside. The goal was to have the participant never see their face on the inside of the piece, only endless repetitions of the LEDs within. The acrylic sheets were coated with a one way mirror film, making the piece a reflective cube during the day and an infinity mirror at night.
Tesseract remains in storage and may be mounted again. Plans are tentatively being made to hang it at head height, with a stepstool for accessability, as opposed to mounting it on a flat surface.
